49th draw: North, Clay set to play

May 08, 2008 11:20 am

— By Les Dixon / Sports Editor
For the second time in three years, the 49th District’s blind draw continues to be a thorn in the sides of both Clay County and North Laurel.
With Jackson County, Oneida Baptist and Red Bird in full agreement to go with the blind draw, there isn’t much that North Laurel head coach Darren McWhorter and Clay County head coach Billy Griffin can do, but shake their heads.
“To be honest, I’m not fond of the blind draw at all,” Griffin said. “Darren and I have talked about this and all it does is give other district teams an easier shot at advancing in the regional tournament.”
The combined record of the three teams are 8-27, while Clay County (19-5 overall, 10-3 vs. 13th Region opponents) and North Laurel (14-12, 12-5) are considered two of the top teams in the 13th Region.
“All I know is that all of the other teams in the 13th Region loves this,” McWhorter said. “Basically, whoever draws the losing team in the region can throw off and use their No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher and can actually save their No. 1 pitcher until the region finals.
“It’s frustrating — that’s what it is,” he added. “The sad thing is this is not going to change any time soon. I’ve stressed to the kids all year long that we need to focus on beating Clay County. I felt like we would draw them and that’s what happened.”
Griffin said what adds to the frustration is that Oneida Baptist votes to haves a blind draw, but hasn’t participated in the 49th District Tournament for the past two years.
“Something needs to be changed,” he said. “The KHSAA (Kentucky High School Athletic Association) needs to step in or something.”
McWhorter agrees.
“Unless the KHSAA mandates the districts to be seeded, then it’s going to be like this,” he said. “There’s nothing I can say or do about it. We have an open discussion about it in the meeting, but it never does anything. I mean, Oneida Baptist votes not to seed, but doesn’t even participate in the district tournament.
“All this does is make the region weaker,” McWhorter added. “Our district just isn’t represented well in the region and it’s not right. It is what it is. I warned my kids we would probably draw Clay County and it happened. We’ve shown that we can play with anybody in the region and we’ve also shown that we can be beaten by anyone, so we’re just going to have to be ready to play Clay County when the time comes.”
The two teams will try to avoid elimination May 19 when the first round of the 49th District begins at Jackson County High School.